Too Long
by SabrinaYutsuki
Summary: How long has it been really? 3 years...? 4...?She couldn't really recall...HV
1. Chapter 1

Too Long by SabrinaYutsuki

Hitomi stared at her boullabaisse and forked it absentmindedly.

How long has it been really? 3 years...? 4...?

She couldn't really recall...

The pain had been unnerving for a year but the emptiness that followed suite was worst.

They'd talk every now and then and he'd share the progress his kingdom was making. It was fascinating for a moment, seeing his passionate eyes light up like that and seeing his face... The smile he wore only for her... The pink pendant he wore... HER necklace...

And then seeing a glimpse of Fanelia again had been... phenomenal. There was a bittersweet, sentimental feeling, seeing Gaea again... The lush greens, the high mountains, the buildings... Gaea was nothing like Earth. She was a mysterious woman who cloaked a tremendous power within her, wrapped in a serene facade. She remembered all too well the feeling she had when she stayed in Gaea. It was a feeling both of peace and an inner stirring, as if her soul was being uplifted and called to something.

At that time, she was being called. To save a world threatened to extinction. The burden was heavy on her shoulders but she had friends to back her up. After that escapade, nothing else seemed to be as pressing and as difficult as her adventure in Gaea.

And then she'd share what she'd been up to... College wasn't as interesting as building a kingdom but he seemed just as interested. Exams... Guys who occassionally streaked the halls (although Van was quite jealous and enraged when he heard this, much to Hitomi's laughter)... Research papers... Then to her track team... Her meets... Her record run.

Definitely nothing as difficult as that time in Gaea.

And then the talks were less frequent. He was too busy attending meetings... Too busy forming alliances... Too busy living his life... A life that she sought so desperately to be a part of but was so shunned by the difficulty of the situation.

She became busy too. She had papers to make. Interviews to do. Track meets to practice for. But, one word from Van and she would have left them for another day. Nothing was as important as speaking with Van. Absolutely nothing.

The months became lonelier and lonelier.

She would dream of Gaea... Of the ebony haired boy. And she would wake up to the reality that they were far, far away, beyond her reach.

And then something happened. A man from her class had asked her out.

It was an invitation to accept change and to go with the wind.

He was a charming man - 5'9", tan, long chestnut hair tied in a ponytail, gentle brown eyes. When he laughed, it was like 2 champagne glasses tinkling from a toast on a Wedding Day - blissful and relaxing.

He was perfect, they said. But he was not Van, she thought.

She did not want to gaze into a mellow pool of brown. She wanted to be engulfed by a fiery russet brown - Van's eyes... Lost in his passion. He had a temper, yes, but it came from a deep desire to save his country, his loved ones... To forge a better path in Destiny's lair.

He raised his eyebrow at Hitomi, teasingly.

"You haven't been listening to a word I said, haven't you?"

Hitomi's face turned a tomato shade. What was the last word she had caught...? Was it "romantic"...? Or "pragmatic"? She couldn't recall.

"Your head lost in space again?"

Hitomi bowed her head, "Im so sorry. I was daydreaming again."

He winked. How the heck could he be so calm and cool about her daydreaming? And a frequent daydreaming at that? He was always so forgiving... So patient. Did she even deserve him?

"You know, Hitomi. There's really something odd about you. Like you spend half of your time in another world or something."

In another world was right.

"But for some reason, it doesn't phase or anger me. You turning a deep shade of red is always quite a sight to see."

She didn't know there could be a deeper shade of red on her cheeks.

He chuckled, and went back to his panfried sea bass.

She went back to Gaea.

Lunch ended with Hitomi's boullabaisse untouched. 


	2. Chapter 2

Too Long The Second Act

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...ooo...ooo...ooo...

The sky was painted gold that day.

Hitomi hated it.

It was as if the world was mocking her, telling her that everyone was happy - except for her.

Wearing her large black-rimmed sunglasses was her act of defiance, her way of telling the sun off. All the world must have been happy but she wanted no part of it.

Just then, Yukari's words rang clear through her ears and she grimaced.

"What's gotten into you lately, Tomi?"

"Tomi, why so gloomy all the time?"

"Tomi, your eyes don't sparkle anymore. Ever since..."

Yes. Ever since she had mysteriously been sucked into a blue light with a stubborn black-haired boy. She had wanted so bad to go back to Earth for a moment but slowly, Gaea had entranced her with her beauty, a beauty cloaked in the ugliness of war and deceit.

Now, all she wanted was for the blue light to come back and take her again. Unfortunately, like the sun, it had mocked her and refused to side with her.

Perhaps Lady Luck was having PMS.

...ooo...ooo...ooo.  
...---.  
-...-...-...-...-...-...-

Hitomi propped her shoulders on her desk, a dark cloud of gloom hanging over her head.

What was it really, to long for someone? To long for someone not just when you see a couple pass by, or when you catch a movie alone just because your apartment was even lonelier? To need his company even in the midst of all the paperwork of an 8-hour job as a Human Resources specialist, or to dream of him even when you needed a dreamless sleep?

The chestnut-haired girl could not determine to what extent longing could go. She knew, however, how futile longing was. She rubbed her eyes, as if it would rub off the frustrations she was feeling. No effect.

She needed a distraction. Hell any distraction would do.

The gods took pity.

A man's baritone voice broke her daydream.

"Ms. Kanzaki, can you come here for a second?"

"Yes, Mr. Morinabe. I'll be right there."

Straightening her long navy blue A-line skirt, she went inside his boss' room, just a couple of meters away from her cubicle.

He gestured for her to sit on the nondescript gray office chair.

If he was her trainer, he would have noted at how perfect her sitting posture was. But he was his boss, and he went down to business, dropping a green sliding folder on his desk for Hitomi to see.

Hitomi held her breath. She knew what the folder contained. 8 sheets of paper with a copper staple holding them neatly together, black ink forming words on each sheet, colored graphs below the words. All very normal things except that she was the one who had typed those words, researched and reviewed statistics, formulated those graphs, stapled them together, and kissed the report with hopefulness.

Mr. Morinabe spewed out a ghastly cough, a product of 10 cigarettes per hour.

"I liked what you wrote, Hitomi. Very insightful and I think we should look into it."

Hitomi grinned, and made sure not to leap for joy and give her pudgy boss a bear hug.

"I had my secretary call some of the universities around and we're going to have that mass job tour around our company next month."

Hitomi's smile grew. Perhaps Lady Luck finally realized the error of her ways.

"I'm going to assign Chihiro to head this project."

Or maybe Lady Luck was still having her fun with her, as her lips turned into a tight line.

"You're wondering why I assigned Chihiro instead of you, Hitomi, and I think it's really your fault. You do a very efficient job here, but you're always so... lifeless. You would agree with me when I say that we simply can't have a half-dead person head the Job Tour."

She nodded.

'Whatever.'

On second thought, maybe she didn't want to head the Job Tour anyway. It meant a large group of wide-eyed would-be graduates asking so many questions, "ooh-ing" and "aah-ing", smiling shamelessly as if that was going to land them their jobs.

Yeah, she probably didn't want it anyway.

Who knew grapes could go this sour?

As she closed the door discreetly behind her, on her way out of her boss' office, the man said something that gave here a glimmer of hope.

"Tell you what, Hitomi. You and Chihiro do the tour together. Prove to me that I'm wrong."

Hitomi did something out of character.

She smiled and nodded vigorously.

She was going to do this project proud, even if Chihiro was a pain in the behind.

...ooo...ooo...ooo...

When Hitomi left the office that day she had managed to meet with Chihiro and finalize all their plans, go over all the points that they were going to show in their presentation, split the work among the two of them, finish her powerpoint presentation, call the company's favorite event planner, and call the caterer. Needless to say, she was dog tired. But in a long span of time, she felt something that she didn't feel for so long.

She felt needed.

Which was really ironic, because back in Gaea there had been a time when she had been sick of that feeling. At the epoch of war, Gaea's very survival had rested on her hands. She felt so weary knowing that so many people were depending on her. It was a huge burden. A burden that, once finally lifted, made her feel so incomplete.

She rested on her bed, heaving a sigh and staring at her peach ceiling.

When had things changed so much?

Oh right.

She recalled every moment of it. Going back home from Gaea to find her mother in tears of joy. Her mother was so happy that day. She was happy too, although there was a dull pain that crept behind her.

Then came college. She left her mom again. This time, okasan was prepared. She came back home every Christmas. Mamoru and Okasan filled the void, but only temporarily. Come senior year, Van had stopped communicating. The emptiness spread like a disease, eating her up inside.

March 10. Her long-awaited track meet. For at least two months, Hitomi had the chance to focus her entire life force into one of her greatest passions in life. She trained so hard and rendered her coach speechless. She was ready for another record run. Another win. The gunshot rang, and she leaped with all her might. Her first leap. She could never forget Amano's advice.

She was running, running so fast that the rest of the world blurred behind her. And then, it happened. She couldn't remember so much, except the pain. The excruciating pain. Everyone was huddling around her. Yukari was worried sick. Her mother was there whispering her name. Somewhere in the distance, she could have sworn she heard that eerie Fanelian lullaby trying to coax her to sleep.

When she woke up, change had taken control of her life.

"You can never run again."

The doctor spoke so gravely, but how could he possibly know just how heartbreaking those words were?

In one year, two of her loves had disappeared.

...ooo...ooo...ooo...

She snapped out of the trance that the past had created for her and abruptly stood up from her bed, going towards her small desk. She drummed her fingers on the mahogany impatiently. There was something she needed to do. Something she hadn't done in a long time. She gingerly opened the bottommost drawer of her desk, and grabbed a plain black spiral notebook.

It was her journal.

She haphazardly flipped through the pages until something caught her eye.

A white feather.

The white feather that symbolized so much for her.

An angel's feather.

Her hands shook as she slowly stroked the feather, afraid that it would disappear. Just like the other important things in her life.

A white flash whizzed by her eyes.

A grey castle in desolate decay. A mysterious dark cloud hanging over it. And a king on a sick bed. In pain.

'Oh God. No.'

"VAN!!!!"

Nobody could hear her screams, and the tears spilled across her desk.

...ooo...ooo...ooo.  
...ooo...ooo...ooo...

Thank you to all those who have reviewed:) And yes, This is going to be sad for the first few chapters, but will eventually lead to the exciting, action parts, and of course to the romantic, happy parts as well. I'm sorry if this story is going slowly and if the chapters aren't that long but I do hope you enjoyed the read. 


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